Are sapphires ever evaluated under sunlight?

[jvLin]

I have an unheated blue sapphire from Ceylon that looks amazing under sunlight (at noon). But under artificial light at night, its color turns kind of greyish and is not as attractive.

What is the best environment to evaluate a sapphire? I assume many of the sapphires I see online are photographed under ideal lighting conditions. Does this mean that there are artificial sources of light that are just as good (or better) than sunlight? Also, under what lighting conditions do the trusted laboratories evaluate sapphires?

 

[marcy]

I am not an expert on how they photograph sapphires but I find them very hard to photograph to match real life. I certainly find some of my sapphires look different under different lighting conditions. Do you have pictures of your sapphire posted? I would love to see it.

 

[chrono]

All gems are evaluated under a very specific light source by gemstone labs and sapphires are no different. Sapphires are also known to shift to varying degrees when viewed under both indoor and outdoor lighting, usually looking their best outdoors under diffused sunlight. Most vendors try to show stones at their best so that’s what we end up seeing in the pictures. However, because I am particular about how my stones look indoors and outdoors, it has to look pleasing to my eyes under all lighting conditions.